No puns, please.

[wordinista]

For the past few weeks/months, we've had, for reasons I have yet to understand a rooster wandering around the neighborhood. 

We are not zoned for agriculture, so this is kind of not what you'd call normal.

But... nonetheless, a rooster.  A rooster.

We think he belongs (insofar as a rooster can "belong" to someone who does such a crap job of keeping it contained) to a house on the block, but aren't sure.  (WTF, rooster.)  So I called Animal Control today to see what can be done because (a) ROOSTER, (b) not zoned for livestock, (c) ROOSTER, and (d) avian flu paranoia, shut up.

Evidently they won't come out to catch the rooster (a shame, because I would pay to see that), but they will come out and collect it if it's already contained.  The girl I spoke with said that I could try luring it into my garage, or possibly tossing a recycling bin over it to keep it in one place, or some other similar Elmer Fudd-meets-Wile E. Coyote type trick.  Conversely, I could figure out the house to which said poultry belongs, and Animal Control can send a letter ascertaining whether the rooster belongs to them, and if it does, I can then have Code Enforcement go over and be all, "No fowl in the suburbs, yo."

I... don't want a rooster in my garage, man.  However, I'm pretty sure tossing a recycling bin over it in this heat might not be the best thing for the rooster.

Dude.  A rooster.  Just get your kids a hamster, for crying out loud.

Comments

[inusdemoness.livejournal.com]

You make the whole situation sound so funny! But if they let it out of their sights to wander around the burbs then I gather that the kids just don't want it. I would sic a dog on it, but then again I'm mean. You might want to try the whole garage thing but without the recycling bin a.k.a. the chicken oven. That would count as having it contained right?

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Heh. I can see the humor in the situation, even if it's kind of an annoying situation. I remember the first time I saw the damn thing. I was in the kitchen without my glasses on, looked out the window and was like, "WTF, am I blinder than usual or is that a goddamn ROOSTER in our front yard?" Went and got my glasses and, sure enough, rooster.

I'm pretty sure a recycling bin would leave me with a rotisserie mess -- unplucked, even. Yuck. I'm hesitant to trap it in the garage because, ew. Mess. Chicken poo everywhere.

Honestly. On what friggin' planet is it a good idea to keep a rooster for a pet? This isn't Charlotte's Web, guys.

[sharibet.livejournal.com]

Chickens are said to make good pets if hand-reared, but don't take my word for it.

I can one-up you on weird neighborhood fauna, though: when I first moved to my condo, there was an emu wandering around the neighborhood. It had escaped from one of the ostrich/emu ranches in the hills behind my neighborhood. It created quite the buzz in town as it eluded capture for two weeks, and was seen wandering through people's yards.

Animal Control had a terrible time trying to catch it--they finally got two officers mounted on mountain bikes to chase it down and rope it.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

...You win.

Actually, we get pretty odd fauna around here. I had two Sandhill Cranes in my backyard a few months ago. Both cats were at the back window, tails a-twitching. :D

[sharibet.livejournal.com]

Heh. Your cats like to dream big, apparently.

Cranes are so gorgeous. It's nice to see them making a comeback from the endangered list.

Here in my neck of the SF Bay Area, we have two pairs of nesting bald eagles for the first time in nearly a century. It's a very hopeful sign to see them this far south.

[merith.livejournal.com]

two things came to mind while reading this:

#1 - california happy cows commercial! not sure if you get them out there, but, the latest is two cows in stalls in the barn complaining about getting up, and early mornings. one tells the other to 'hit the snooze'... the rooster goes flying! :) cracks me up every time.

#2 - this gal i worked with on a project last year worked remote from home. only, she'd just moved into her new house, and in the middle of a conference call started talking about the wild turkeys crossing her yard. totally disrupted the call, but was really a wtf moment :)

good luck with dinner.

[hyanan.livejournal.com]

I see them all the time in my neighborhood. Just along the side of the road. Eating...rooster...snacks...or whatever it is that they eat.

I blame this on our proximity to the Caribbean. Even my dad, who was Cuban, thought it was funny. However, it's not so funny when the one next door with the neighbor sits on the fence outside your room and wakes your ass up at 5am during high school with his doodle-doo bizniss. XD

It doesn't bother me so much nowadays. If anything, it makes me laugh. *driving along* *sees critter* "What a strange dog...wait, that's a chicken!" :)

[smartycat.livejournal.com]

At least two of the Hispanic families on my block have had fowl (multiple chickens and roosters) at one time or another. We're not zoned for agriculture/livestock either, and the birds disappear temporarily after a visit from Code Enforcement but tend to return one or two months later. I'm pretty sure these birds aren't the family pets. ^__^;; Fresh eggs and meat always available! One family even stuck a great fuzzy mountain of a dog (think Great Pyrenees but in chestnut red) in their backyard to guard the hens. But at least these were normal farm fowl and not game cocks.

And if your Animal Control is like our animal control is, they're special. But that's a rant for another day.

[worthtempting.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel better, I tried to go to school one morning only to be thwarted by an enormous bull grazing on my front lawn. I got to stay home from school while the sheriff's department and the farmer he belonged to came and took him home.

(also, it should be noted that my first thought upon reading this was 'lol, wandering cock', which probably tells you how old I am ;;;)

[squeakyinuears.livejournal.com]

I had a neighbor that used to own all kinds of poultry, from chickens, to ducks, to geese. And, yes, they had a rooster, too. A young one that seemed to confuse afternoon with dawn. XD

*Snickers* I'm still imagining you trying to capture a rooster. Good luck apprehending it. ^_~